The Works and Days and Theogony

Works and Days (in ancient Greek Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι / Erga kaí Hemérai, which sometimes goes by the Latin name Opera et Dies, as in the OCT) is a Greek poem of some 800 verses written by Hesiod (around 700 BC). The poem revolves around two general truths: labour is the universal lot of Man, but he who is willing to work will get by. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of documented colonisations in search of new land.